PC PC GAMES

A lot of people ask me “why do I retrogame? There are so many games with  better graphics and more realistic content. Besides, who wants that old prehistoric stuff?” I mean, let’s face it. With today’s technology, you can play online against people from all over the world or on a private LAN with a few of your buddies and the graphics are far and beyond the older systems. You can choose to game on a PS3, the X-Box 360, the Wii. Or you can just stick with your PC as your favorite gaming platform of choice.

Retrogaming is defined as the following per Wikipedia: Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old-school gaming, is the hobby of playing and collecting older computer, video, and arcade games. These games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations. Participants in the hobby are sometimes known as retrogamers in the United Kingdom, while the terms classic gamers, or old-school gamers are more prevalent in the United States. Similarly, the games are known as retrogames, classic games, or old-school games. Retrogaming is often linked to, although not the same as, indie gaming, the hobby of playing games that are not published by any conventional publisher. Additionally, the term old-school could apply to a newer game, but with features similar to those of older games, such as “old-school RPGs”.

I think to better understand retrogaming, you have to start at the beginning and understand the culture that surrounded the public. Some people consider retrogaming starting with the arcades, while others may consider the Commodore 64 or 128 as a starting point. Still yet, others may go back to when the old 386 and 486 computers began to come out with 8MB of RAM and 128MB harddrives that could hold dozens of MS-DOS games. It all depends on what generation you came from.

I choose to start my idea of retrogaming by going all the way back to Pong in 1972. Pong first appeared on the Magnovox Odyssey and later by Atari, of which was owned by the grandfather of video games, Nolan Bushnell. Now we all know what Pong is, so there really is no explanation needed here.

With the 70′s came a time of some great events such as the blockbuster movie Star Wars, the first test flight of NASA’s space shuttle Enterprise, the TRS-80 – one the first affordable home computers, and the U.S. and Soviet Union coming to terms on the spread of nuclear weapons. It wasn’t until 1977 that a gaming console called the Atari 2600 came out. Sears department stores sold the same unit as the Sears Telegames Cartridge System. Mattel soon followed with the Intellivision and Coleco presented the Colecovision. People were amazed at the whole concept of video games and the video game craze was ablaze. It was the 70′s and the sign of advanced technology was just beginning.

Next came the 80′s. And with it came a whole new generation of gamers. Clothes changed from bell bottom pants and disco shirts only to be replaced with florescent jams and Ocean Pacific shirts. Everyone wanted the Don Johnson look from Miami Vice. John Lennon was shot and killed. President Reagan was shot and wounded. People traded in old appliance colors of olive green, brown and goldenrod for white and beige. The CD became the choice for music, replacing the vinyl albums and cassettes. As the video game craze began to develop, games that were once only found in niche corners of the local convenience store were now appearing to the masses in the form of arcades. Arcades appeared in almost every mall in America and some were just walk in outlets off the street. Companies like Namco, Midway, Atari and Nintendo started to make waves with games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, Dig-Dug and Donkey Kong. There seemed to be no end in site when everyone became crazy with Pac-Man Fever. 

But then something drastic happened. Around 1982 to 1983, the video game market collapsed. The game console market became flooded and people started to divert their attention toward personal computers. Commodore and Atari began to compete for bragging rights by swaying people to buy home computers for doing daily tasks such as home finances while still having the ability to play games as well. Software companies began to lose publishing control when Atari decided that programmers did not deserve credit for their games such as musicians and actors. Arcades soon followed suit and began to close their doors.

It wasn’t until 1985 that video games would come back into peoples lives with the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. With such games as Super Mario Bros., people became interested in the games with better graphics and music. There was still the simplicity factor, but more advanced than the older systems. Atari tried to compete unsuccessfully with the 5200 and 7800 series consoles. Sega also tried to compete with their 8-bit Master System. Towards the end of the 80′s, Nintendo introduced the first cartridge based handheld system called the Gameboy. The Gameboy would turn out to be another huge success for Nintendo. Sega soon introduced the first 16-bit gaming system known in the U.S. as the Genesis and NEC introduced the Turbografx-16 in North America.

We now enter the 90′s. And again a whole new generation of gamers. People were trading their American cars for more economical Japanese models at a massive rate. The Berlin wall had just previously fallen. The Soviet Union was once again named Russia. Home computers were becoming more and more advanced at a quicker pace. The first recordable CD-RW drives began to appear at the cost of $1000 or more. This would become the era of the 32-bit, 64-bit and 128-bit generations. Nintendo would finally enter the 16-bit arena early in 1992. But in 1994, Sony would soon unveil the first CD-based game console called the Playstation (PSX) after a failed attempt to partner with Nintendo on a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo. The PSX introduced early 3D gaming. Sega also introduced the CD-based 32-bit Saturn. In 1996, Nintendo, along with the help of Silicon Graphics, created the 64-bit Nintendo 64. Choosing to stay with a cartridge based system, it fell short of toppling Sony. It was now 1999 and Sega introduced the first 128-bit gaming console called the Dreamcast to compete against Sony. Even though the PS2 didn’t come out until 15 months later in 2000, the Dreamcast failed to overtake the competition with Sony and succumbed to a bitter defeat.

Now why did I just cover all of that? Well again, depending on what generation you’re from, you all believe in a different opinion of what retrogaming is. My opinion starts with Pong and ends with Sega’s Dreamcast. Others may argue that, but with each generation of gaming technology and systems, there is a bit of nostalgia of the times that can be placed with it. And with that nostalgia, it brings to light the enjoyment we once had and have forgotten while growing up with video games, whether it be hanging out in the arcades with your friends or just playing your first home gaming system with your family. There can be special memories associated with anything we may do in the present. No matter how old and simplistic the technology was at the time, there is no denying that those games that were once so fun to play back then, are still just as fun to play today. We should all take a stroll down memory lane to remember the good times growing up while playing those old video games from each era. And we mustn’t forget that the past technology is what has pushed us to where we are today. We owe a great deal to the early pioneers of video gaming.

Game over.